August 29/12 20:37 pm - Vuelta a Espana - Stage 11

Posted by Editoress on 08/29/12

Kessiakoff beats the stars, Rodriguez keeps one second lead

The times of Joaquim ‘Purito’ Rodriguez losing the Vuelta because of conceding minutes in time trials are over. Two years ago, already wearing the red jersey, the Catalan from Katusha completed the course in Peñafiel in 104th position with a deficit of 6.12 over stage winner Peter Velits. He went from the leading rank to fourth overall. His hard work has paid off in Pontevedra where he clocked the seventh best time and maintained his lead by one second over Alberto Contador.

Sweden’s Frederik Kessiakoff of Astana created a bit of a surprise as he won the race after beating the time of Richie Porte (Sky) by 1.15. None of the favourites managed to better his performance. Only Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) had started faster than him. After 13.5km on a mostly rolling course, the top 3 was: 1. Contador, 2. Kessiakoff at 0.02, 3. Froome at 0.04.

At the top of the hill of Monte Castrove, the differences were more significant with: 1. Kessiakoff, 2. Contador at 0.02, 3. Froome at 0.18. The downhill and the finale in the city of Pontevedra only increased the gaps but didn’t modify the standings. The second half of the Vuelta will see the same quartet in contention for the red jersey with Rodriguez leading by only one second over Contador. Froome is at 16 seconds and Valverde at 59 seconds. The battle of the Asturias will be intense.

Frederik Kessiakoff: “I switched my focus to this stage”

Frederik, having won the time trial of the Tour of Switzerland and the Vuelta, do you consider yourself as a specialist now?I’m a little bit surprised because I haven’t particularly work on my time trialling but today’s stage suited at perfection and at the difference of the riders currently fighting for GC, I’ve been thinking of this time trial exclusively for one week. Now after beating Fabian Cancellara at the Tour of Switzerland and Alberto Contador here, I’ll go to any time trial of a big stage race with ambitions, providing that it’s a hilly course.

As a designated leader of the Astana team, did you expect to fight for GC as well?Yes but already after stage 4 to Valdezcaray, I had conceded a lot of time. Obviously, I had not recovered from the Tour de France where I fought against Thomas Voeckler for the polka dot jersey till the end. It cost me a lot of energy, so I switched my focus on a stage win. Now it’s a great relief to know that I’ll go home from the Vuelta with something. Every team wants at least a stage victory. Everyone at Astana can be relaxed now. As for myself, even if I hadn’t won today, I would have been happy with my performance. When I realized that Richie Porte was more than a minute behind, I understood that it would be tight between me and the GC contenders but that I might as well win. I’m very happy with that.

Will you ride the time trial world championship?Before the Vuelta, I spoke with the national coach and I said that I wouldn’t have the head to dig that deep after a second Grand Tour this year. For now I’m not doing it but we’ll see. It might be reconsidered.